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_______________BLACK LIKE ME BY JOAN WALSH (01/23/99)
	Thank you to Joan Walsh for her article. When I heard Cheryl Mills speak the other day, I cried tears of joy and sorrow. I was very proud of her speaking to those idiots in the House. That she was just the third black person to speak in the Senate was horrifying, this is 1999 for chrisake. She spoke just a couple of days after we, in New Hampshire, had protested the lack of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in this state. Those of us carrying signs were heckled and called "N--- lovers" by passing motorists. (I am white, 55-years-old and European-born.) This country is polarized with racism and has been for all the time I have lived here, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. May many more women and men of whatever color stand up to those who practice bigotry. -- Finn Connell I am at a loss to understand Joan Walsh's bizarre rant regarding the alleged "smearing" of Cheryl Mills. Mills offered nothing of substance in her defense of the president. Her sole contribution to the defense was one of style. The effusive praise now being accorded her performance in "the belly of one of the whitest beasts of the nation" is symptomatic of how our society has come to value style over substance. What in the world did the fact that president Clinton's grandfather owned a store that catered to African-Americans have to do with the articles of impeachment? Are we supposed to let President Clinton off the hook because his ancestors have been pro-affirmative action? Perhaps there is a white criminal in prison we can release because his grandmother operated a soup kitchen in Harlem. Joan Walsh plays her own race card: Like so many guilt-ridden white liberals, she implicitly labels as racists and bigots any white who dares to criticize blacks. Further, her assertion that she "feels part of" the separate black nation she sees is patronizing in the extreme. -- T.D. Gordon I'm white, too, but I don't see this as a division between black and white America. Rather, this is a division between Hate America and Let Live America. The haters, represented by Henry Hyde, Ken Starr, Bob Barr, Laura Ingraham, et al., drag in any excuse to hate their fellow Americans -- race, sexuality, morals, whatever is convenient. Under the guise of "fighting big government," they create the most monstrous government of all, a $50 million machine designed to peep into the bedrooms of everyone opposed to this sexual McCarthyism. Cheryl Mills did a wonderful job as a black American, sure. But her real contribution was in becoming the most eloquent spokesman for an America that refuses to kowtow to the Taliban Republican sex police. -- Tom Scott I watched a lot of the coverage of Cheryl Mills' appearance at the Clinton trial. I agreed with the vast majority of the commentary I heard -- that she had done a pretty good job representing the president. But now here's Joan Walsh telling me that, actually, white America "smeared" her. How'd I miss that? Is it because I'm white? Because I'm a man? I'm sure there's a gender- or race-based answer to my confusion. There's got to be, right? -- Pete Danko Applegate Valley, Ore. Joan Walsh's problem, of course, began with watching MSNBC. MSNBC knows its viewership and aims to please. It was initially supposed to be this hip network attracting younger, more savvy, computer-literate viewers. The Clinton crisis has driven MSNBC to reposition itself as the scandal network, guaranteeing itself the viewership of those who have hated the president since 1992. Getting upset at the tactics on MSNBC is a lot like getting upset at the tactics used in a professional wrestling match. Just turn the channel. -- John Goldsmith Chevy Chase, Md. SALON | Jan. 28, 1999

R E C E N T L Y+| GREAT AMERICAN NOVELIST BY JONATHAN KEATS

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